26 Geological and Statistical Account of the [Jan. 



the inhabitants of two neighbouring villages) are formed for a trial of 

 strength : one party pulling against the other. The successful party- 

 is allowed to draw the car away to their own village, where it is finally 

 consumed. 



Several other wrestling matches were made, until it became too 

 dark to prolong the game. I now returned to the village, and entering 

 my host's house, found a supper waiting my arrival. It was laughable 

 to observe the curiosity of the villagers to see an Inglee at the feeding 

 hour. Men, women, and children mounted the michaun, to the very 

 great hazard of its coming down. There was in the appearance of my 

 visitors nothing of that fear and abject submission so characteristic of 

 the natives of India. The women, as well as the men, stood gazing 

 upon me, and all joined in the laugh excited by the European mode of 

 handing the food to my mouth, to them so incomprehensible and ri- 

 diculous. The children were not afraid to approach, and I was not so 

 uncivil as to refuse them a share of the viands they apparently covet- 

 ed. It was received with pleasure, and offered in return to their pa- 

 rents. A mother had a very pretty infant at her breast, and I was 

 surprised to see her give it a piece of bread that had been previously 

 chewed. I found on inquiry that a child is fed with a mouthful of boil- 

 ed rice, reduced to a state of mucilage, on the second day of its birth. 

 This it is said conduces to its vigour, and hastens the period for its 

 final separation from the breast. 



January 13th. — The sun had not risen before I was seated on my 

 elephant, and setting out on my journey to Ladong. Leaving Kyou- 

 prath, and proceeding towards Kaeng, the route at first lay along the 

 sea-beach, and afterwards over a rugged piece of ground, covered 

 with blocks of sandstone and a conglomerate, which appear to have 

 been borne down from the superincumbent hills, by the violence of the 

 waters on their escape to the ocean. These rocks very much impeded 

 my progress, rendering the motions of the elephant rough and te- 

 dious to an uncomfortable degree. At the further extremity of the 

 plain, and bordering upon the sea-shore, the remains of a few mud 

 volcanoes may be seen. They have the appearance of extensive 

 mounds, covered with green sward, and (as is invariably the case with 

 all the mud volcanoes in Arracan) have a few Jhow trees growing 

 upon their sides. Proceeding to the spot for the purpose of examina- 

 tion, I could perceive no further evidences of present activity than what 

 was indicated by the existence of a spring of muddy water on the sum- 

 mit of each volcano ; the water rising in bubbles, if at all disturbed, 

 owing to the quantity of carbonic acid gas it contained. The mud 

 was of a grey colour, and impregnated with much calcareous matter. 



